


Where We Started

by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz



Series: Earth-4 [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (basically your White Canary), Alternate Universe, Barry is Captain Cold, But it's happening, Caitlin is the Blue Phoenix, Earth-4, Earth-4 Legends, Helena is the Atom, Iris is Golden Glider, John is Hawkman, Lily and Linda are Firestorm, Lyla is Hawkgirl, Miranda is the Time Master, This wasn't going to happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-10-08 12:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10386957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz/pseuds/AgentMaryMargaretSkitz
Summary: Earth-4: Before a group of misfits went to stop Vandal Savage and save their captain's husband and son, they all started somewhere.(The Origins of the Earth-4 Legends)





	1. Miranda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda Coburn thought she could be a Time Master and still have a family. Then Vandal Savage happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not supposed to happen, but everyone seemed to love the Earth-4 Legends introduction at the end of Welcome to Earth-1 that I got sucked down by the idea and scribbled this down one day in class. Every Legend will get thier own chapter, and the final one will be all of them together.

                She had been determined not to scream, but the pain turned out to be more than she had been expecting. There were places she knew in the future that had drugs that would make this experience less painful. However, the hospitals of the future required names and personal information and too many details that would expose them to the Time Masters. Here, out in the Old West, they could remain undetected and anonymous. Aside from Cinnamon, no one else knew of that she and Rip were from the future.

                It was well into the night when the cry of a newborn filled the air. As soon as she heard it, Miranda burst into tears. She was a hardened yet rebellious Time Master, but right now she was a sobbing, snotty, sweaty mess staring at her son. Rip was crying too as he cut the cord and took the little baby in his arms. Her husband passed him over to Miranda, who cradled the newborn in her arms. He was tiny and bloody and perfect in every way. A rush of love surged through her as she looked down at her son.

“Hello, Jonas,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his head as Rip bent down beside them. “Welcome to the world.”

                Later, when Rip had fallen asleep and it was just her and Baby Jonas, she apologized to her son. Rip and Miranda had known having a family wouldn’t be as simple as they wanted. She was the Time Master, the one who would have to report back to the Vanishing Point soon and explain her absence. Rip and their son would go back to live in the time they had selected after he had quit the Time Masters. Due to her duties, Miranda would be unable to see Jonas consistently. He would grow up with a mother who would come in and out of his life.

“I’m so sorry,” Miranda told him. “But no matter what, I will always love you, Jonas. And I will always come back to you and your father.”

* * *

 

                Eight years later, Miranda knelt in the middle of the war zone of 2166 London, holding the bodies of her husband and son. Vandal Savage had murdered them in his latest attack on the refugees. She had been supposed to meet them, to evacuate them to another time period for their safety. Instead, she had arrived to find Rip dead at the opening of their makeshift shelter, and Jonas lying against a few empty crates. If their eyes hadn’t been open, she might have thought they were asleep.

                Tears traced down her cheeks as she touched her forehead to the top of Rip’s head. Her grief felt like a relentless tidal wave, slamming into her again and again. She blamed herself for not getting there sooner, for not getting them out when things were starting to take a turn towards chaos, for not staying in the West like Rip had wanted too after Jonas was born (although she knew her husband’s love for the era was a factor of why he wanted to remain). If she had done one of those things, surely her family would still be alive.

Miranda turned to Jonas’s corpse, seeing both the eight year old who had been excited to see his mum again and the squalling baby who Rip had placed in her arms in the Old West. She remembered how she had apologized for the mother she would be when he was hours old. While she hadn’t been able to be with him all the time, Miranda had made it to see him very often, and Jonas grew up without any malice towards her absences. She had failed him, and it made her grief worse.

“I will fix this,” she vowed to Rip and Jonas before standing up and making her way back to the Waverider.

* * *

 

                The Time Counsel refused to eliminate Vandal Savage, despite her arguments of the threats he posed to the timeline. Miranda tried to argue, but Druce had silenced and dismissed her. So she had stalked back to the Waverider, a back-up plan already in the works. It had occurred to her when she was sulking one evening in the study, paging through an old history book on the Flash. Since then, Miranda had done her research through the timeline, selecting and rejecting candidates.

“Did the Time Counsel approve your proposal?” Gideon asked as she came aboard.

“Shot it down,” Miranda lamented. “They don’t think he’s a significant enough threat.”

“What now, Captain?”

Miranda sat down in the pilot’s chair. “I’m going to enact the back-up plan. We’re going to need to get to January 2017.”

Gideon’s next words were hesitant. “You’re sure about this plan, Captain?”

“Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews = Love


	2. Helena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Earth-4 Helena Bertinelli's life changed the night the particle accelerator went off, and put her on the path to heroism.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have gone ahead and written this out last night, then typed it out this morning. I couldn't help myself. Earth-4 has consumed me.
> 
> This chapter focuses on Earth-4 Helena Bertinelli. Since it's another Earth, you've got different origins and a different path that ultimately takes her another way than where she is on other Earths. I honestly have so much fun writing other Earths since you can construct whatever you desire.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

                The night the particle accelerator cast its wave of dark matter across Central City, Helena Bertinelli was there. She had gone with her fiancé to his hometown meet her future in-laws and also as a bit of a vacation since he had wanted to be there for the accelerator turning on. Some of his old college buddies had invited them to their apartment to watch the news coverage of it since the streets were packed with science enthusiasts and protesters claiming Dr. Mick Rory was going to hurt the city more than help it. Helena had suggested to her fiancé while his friends were distracted that they could go watch up it turn on from the roof of the building. So they’d slipped away without anyone noticing.

                She had been up there with him for a while, and things were getting interesting between them when a golden wave surging towards the whole city hit the building. It had knocked the two over the edge of the rooftop with a surprising force. Helena had been lucky and managed to grab the bars of a balcony before she felt too far, screaming for help until the residents heard her and pulled her to safety. Her fiancé hadn’t been as fortunate, impacting the pavement as a tangle of limbs that quickly became surrounded in blood. Helena had been heartbroken when she saw him before the first responders covered his body, and blamed herself for taking him up to that roof in the first place. The trip was meant to be a happy thing for them, but instead the man she loved had been ripped from her.

                Two months after she got back to Fawcett City, Helena discovered she hadn’t escaped that night as unscathed as she thought. She now possessed the ability to shrink herself down and regrow at will. It probably would have been a cooler discovery if she hadn’t been sick with a nasty cold at the time and shrunk down to the size of a dime in the middle of a sneezing fit. Helena had spent about an hour at that size before figuring out how to return to her normal size.

                Once she’d gotten used to her ability, Helena started to use it more in her life. The turning point came when she found out one of her bosses at the Fawcett City of Merlyn Global was embezzling money from the company. She shrunk down at the end of the workday, waited for everyone to leave, and then got into the man’s computer and set out enough evidence to incriminate the man. The next day, the thief was escorted out by the police while she watched among her coworkers.

                The thrill of bringing justice with her secret was satisfying, although she wanted to do more. Helena moved from within Merlyn Global to start bringing justice to Fawcett’s streets and back alleys. Having training in martial arts and self-defense that she had complained about her mother enrolling her in was now paying off when she went out at night. However, she started to realize that shrinking down made her extra vulnerable to getting squashed, and that her black clothes and balaclava weren’t much for protection.

She realized she was going to have to think of another way to keep herself safe after she ended up breaking into her best friend’s apartment to stitch herself up (she wouldn’t have been able to make it to her own, and his was close by) and he learned her secret. However, he agreed to keep his mouth shut, and made it his mission to start helping her out with her crusade. What she didn’t count on was the project he began working on in secret specifically for her.

* * *

 

“Ta-da!”

                Rene Ramirez stepped away to reveal his work to Helena. The metahuman was greeted with the sight of a mannequin that held a sort of purple exoskeleton. When he told her he had a surprise for her, she hadn’t been expecting this. Stepping forward, Helena ran her hand over the chest plate before examining the rest of the suit.

“I managed to work some magic with nanites,” Rene told her. “And there’s neural receptors in the helmet and suit, so when you shrink down, it shrinks with you. It’ll grow with you too. The body armor underneath has them too, since you told me you can only shrink one layer of clothing. But I’ve tested it, and it all works fine. Plus I added some other enhancements.”

Helena turned back to Rene. “Enhancements?”

“Well, for starters, flight,” he explained. “You won’t have to run everywhere. Now you can just fly out of a mess. It’ll hold up if you somehow end up underwater. And I know you can defend yourself, but I added something extra- compressed light beams that’ll stun a nervous system. They’ll definitely bring the hurt.”

“You didn’t have to do all this,” she said, smiling at him.

Rene held up his hands in good nature. “I just want my friend to be safe. You’re the reason work’s bearable with the jerks at MG. Can’t have you getting squashed and leaving me to deal with Jerry alone.”

“So you want to keep me alive just so you don’t have to deal with Jerry,” Helena teased. “So touched.”

“Okay fine, I like doing this with you, Bertinelli,” Rene admitted. “We’re like those heroes in Star City, although we’re smaller.”

Helena smiled. “We make a good team.”

Her friend nodded before glancing back at the suit. “Want to try it on?”

                After Rene gave her a quick instruction on how to suit up properly with the different components, Helena was in her new suit. Focusing her mind, she shrank herself down and was pleased to see the suit shrink with her. Once she was at the size of a dime, Helena tested out the flight systems (flying was actually a lot of fun, although she’d need to remain serious in the field with it) and the suit’s mobility, which was better than she had expected. The suit regrew with her once the trials were finished. Even though it was still daylight, Helena couldn’t wait to go out in it that night.

“All I need left is a codename,” she said, only half joking, as she got out of the suit.

“Yeah, the Fawcett press sucks there,” Rene lamented with a shake of his head. “They know you’re a hero, but they’ve given you nothing.”

                Helena nodded as she looked over at the chest plate she’d just placed back on the mannequin. She hadn’t noticed it earlier, but the pieces in the front seemed to form a blocky ‘A’. Gears started to turn in her head as she studied it. Finally, a name came to her, and Helena Bertinelli smiled.

“How does ‘the Atom’ sound to you?” she asked Rene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter- Caitlin Snow.
> 
> Regarding Earth-4 Ray, my original plan was for him to become Killer Frost, but I've decided to pursue an alternate route with him that's brought me to a crossroads.
> 
> Reviews=Love


	3. Caitlin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, there was a young woman who stayed away from the shadows and the darkness. They stole her away one day, and although she escaped, she brought some darkness back within her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I upped the rating on this a little, since Caitlin's chapter isn't a happy one. I finally got a breakthrough today with her League name, so I'm able to post this.
> 
> In this world, the mentioned brother E2 Caitlin has, Charlie, exists here as well.
> 
> Warning: implications of rape.

                Caitlin Snow stood before the Demon’s Head, meeting his eyes. A year and a half ago, she would have been too timid and afraid to meet his eyes, but that was before everything that had happened to her. The sinking of the Merlyn’s Wand had taken the med school student and tossed her into hellish circumstances. She had survived the Amazo and Ivo before discovering she wasn’t the only survivor of the shipwreck and getting thrust into a war on the island. Caitlin had a feeling she was the only one left to remember it if the sub didn’t get back to Russia, since the Amazo had gone down with Tommy Merlyn (who’d completely lost his frat boy attitude since the shipwreck) and Billy Wintergreen in it after she’d been swept away and then swum back to land.

                Her savior, Talia, stepped forward and spoke in Arabic to the man she had called Ra’s al Ghul. Had it not been for Talia’s boat passing by the island, Caitlin would probably still be on it. She’d fallen asleep besides a large fire she built to try and signal for help, and woke up under a blanket on a boat. Talia had been waiting for her to wake up, and explained that she had found her and was taking her back to the mainland as she treated the injuries Caitlin had sustained. After the experiences she had gone through on the Amazo, Caitlin had been hesitant to let someone she didn’t know near her. However, Talia made it clear she didn’t intend to hurt Caitlin in any way, and slowly earned her trust.

During the voyage back to China, Talia told her what had been happening in the world, as well as her own origins. Caitlin was intrigued by the League of Assassins that Talia was going back to. With everything she had been through, Caitlin was no longer the same girl who boarded a ship with some college buddies for a week. A darkness within her had revealed itself on the Amazo and the island, and she needed to channel it. The scared girl knew the only way to face the world of monsters was to become scary herself.

                Ra’s approached her now and asked for her name. After Caitlin gave it, she was told that to become part of the League, the name of Caitlin Snow would need to be no more. Her identity had to be stripped in order to become part of them, and that the journey would not be easy. Talia had told her all this on the boat, but it didn’t scare Caitlin then, nor did it now. She wanted to become strong after being helpless for so long, and whatever was to come did not frighten her.

That day, Caitlin Snow died. From the ashes rose Finiks, the phoenix.

* * *

 

                Finiks never thought she would leave the League, but that was before she killed a corrupt businessman whose body was discovered by his young son. The kid had resembled a young Charlie, and the pieces of Caitlin Snow she believed were gone stirred and reformed. She escaped the League and made her way back to Star City, but didn’t contact anyone she had known before the Wand. To the whole world, Caitlin Snow was dead, and the woman she had become was unrecognizable from the med student who had supposedly drowned in the North China Sea.

                Then Tommy, alive and well and having returned to Star City publically the year before, found her watching Charlie one night. He’s spent the past year moonlighting in vigilante activities as a hooded archer and brought her into his inner circle of allies. She joined him out on the streets, fighting a sudden appearance of Mirakuru-dosed men before they uncovered an also alive and very vengeful Billy Wintergreen behind it. In between the new war with him, Tommy and his girlfriend, Laurel, got Caitlin to reveal to Charlie and her mother that she was alive and back. In spite of everything she had done, before the Wand and within the League, they welcomed her back with open arms.

                But all good things came to an end, and Caitlin struck a deal with Ra’s to return to the League if he sent League members to help her and Tommy (and Talia too) fight Billy and his Mirakuru army. She fell back into the League naturally when she came back, but she found herself missing her family and ‘Team Arrow’. An assignment was given to her that offered a return to Star City by tracking down suspicious activity suggesting that a former disgraced member of the League, Moira Queen, was still alive. Caitlin gladly took it, although the clues sent her to Central City first. She spent two weeks within a group of criminals who called themselves the Rogues before getting a new lead to go back to Star.

* * *

 

“Hello, Caitlin.”

                The assassin straightened up and pulled out her twin swords when she heard the modulated voice. She’d been waiting here to meet Charlie after leaving him a message to come and talk to her, but he would never use a modulator around her. Still, it surprised Caitlin to turn around and see Thea Merlyn standing with a bow in hand and quiver on her back. Tommy’s little sister stared at her, emotionless.

“What are you doing here?” Caitlin asked, replacing her swords. She didn’t think that she’d need them around Thea, given she was normally friendly from the interactions she’d had with her.

                Thea raised the bow and nocked an arrow from the quiver quickly before letting the bowstring go. An arrow imbedded itself in Caitlin’s stomach before she could register what was happening. She gasped as she felt the pain hit her just before another arrow sank in right next to the first. Caitlin looked up in time for the third arrow to hit her upper chest, right at her heart. Thea disappeared into the shadows as the Phoenix sank to her knees, and then the cold cement of the roof as her life began to slip away.

                She wasn’t sure how long she was up there for. Her eyes were starting to feel heavy when she heard the door that lead to the rooftop open, followed by Charlie screaming her name. Caitlin tried to call out to her brother, but she couldn’t get words out of her mouth. It was getting too hard to hang on for much longer. She was going to die up on this rooftop, and that would be the end of her story.

The last things Caitlin remembered before she let go were arms lifting her up and Charlie’s sobs.

* * *

 

                For a year, Caitlin Snow was dead. In that time, her brother Charlie joined Tommy, Laurel, and Tommy’s new protégé on the streets as Firebird. He did it for the memory of Caitlin, and never forgot what had happened on that rooftop. After they journeyed to Nanda Parbat and witnessed the effects of the Lazarus Pit, Charlie wanted to bring his sister back. With the help of Thea Merlyn, he brought Caitlin’s body to Nanda Parbat and immersed her in the waters of the pit. While it brought her back, she was left without a soul, leaving her feral and violent. A friend of Tommy’s, Zed Martin, restored Caitlin’s soul after she escaped from Charlie’s attempts at rehabilitation, but the pit had still left Caitlin with a bloodlust. She didn’t feel safe around her friends or family anymore, and after a goodbye to Charlie, set off to search the world for something to help her control it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. Caitlin Snow. Assassin and former dead person.
> 
> Next chapter- Lily Stein.


	4. Lily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily Stein just wanted to get funding for Project FIRESTORM. Then her brother's best friend's particle accelerator changed everything for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a little while to get this one going thanks to schoolwork, but I finally managed to crank this out.
> 
> If you haven't read Welcome to Earth-1, Earth-4 Lisa tells Earth-1 Lisa how she and her brother grew up with the Steins after their parents died in an accident. Consider this first part a flashback to that. And you all should totally read Welcome to Earth-1 if you haven't ;)

“You have to learn all this?” Lily Stein whined as she paged through the textbook her older brother was using in one of his college classes.

Leonard pretended to look offended. “You don’t find it interesting?”

“Nah,” the ten year old shook her head. “It’s boring.”

“Yeah,” Lisa added from where she was sitting against Leonard’s bed. She had already gone through the book. “Sorry, Lenny. Mick’s textbooks are cooler.”

Their brother’s best friend smiled smugly from where he sat.

“Forget break,” Leonard groaned. “Mick, let’s go back.”

“Not my fault you want to major in criminology,” Mick laughed as Lisa stood up to peer through his chemistry textbook.

“Well, not every one of us is a genius who plans to double major,” Leonard shot back, barely holding back a grin. “Nerd.”

Mick shrugged. “Your sisters like this nerd better.”

“Yeah, he has cooler classes,” Lisa chimed in as she sat down beside Lily so they could look through Mick’s textbook.

The girls’ brother sighed. “You two are terrible sisters.”

“No way!” Lily shook her head.

Lisa crossed her arms and looked over at Leonard. “We’re the best. We’re angels.”

“About that,” Leonard pushed himself off his bed. “I heard that you two got into a fight a few days ago with some kids at school.”

                The sisters turned towards each other. They had put the incident behind them, or so they had thought. The bruise on Lisa’s cheek had nearly healed, and the scratches Steven had left on Lily were mostly gone save for one band aid. When Leonard had come home for fall break, they had hoped he wouldn’t notice or find out. Everyone involved had all gotten off with a warning, and Lily and Lisa had been sat down by their parents for a talk about fighting in school.

Mick stood up and murmured something about going to get something from downstairs. Lily could see that he wanted to give them a little space, although she wished he’d stay.

“What happened exactly?” Leonard asked once the door shut behind Mick, staring at the two of them. “Neither of you usually gets into fights.”

Lisa swallowed. “Some kids were picking on me.”

“How come?”

“They found out I was adopted,” Lisa said in a quieter voice. “They wouldn’t leave me alone when I told them too. Then Lily told them to go away, but they didn’t listen. One of them pushed me, so Lily jumped on one of them. Then we both started fighting them.”

                Lily nodded to confirm the story. Lisa had kept out some of the details about what the other kids said to her, but it hadn’t been very nice anyways. She didn’t regret tackling Steven after he shoved Lisa. Even if she’d gotten a warning about fighting, she would do it again if people tried to bully Lisa.

Leonard turned to Lily. “So you jumped a kid?”

“He said that Lisa wasn’t really my sister ‘cause Mom and Dad adopted you two,” Lily told him, revealing only one of the things Lisa had had to hear. “He wouldn’t stop it. Who even cares that you’re adopted? She’s my sister and you’re my brother.”

                Her brother inhaled sharply after she said this. He looked down for a few minutes before lifting his head back up. Leonard was smiling, but his eyes looked a little watery. Reaching forward, he ruffled Lily’s hair. Lily grinned a little, glad to see that he didn’t look mad at what she had done.

“You’re a good sister,” he told her.

“What about me?” Lisa chimed in.

Leonard laughed and nodded. “You’re a good sister too, Lisa. You’re both good sisters.”

* * *

 

                As Central City started to come more into view, Lily’s phone began to vibrate in her pocket. Placing her bookmark in her book, she pulled out the device to see Leonard’s name pop up on the screen. She accepted the call, holding the phone up to her ear while the train sped into the outer edges of Central City. “Hey.”

“Hey,” her brother’s voice replied. “I meant to call earlier, but something came up with a case. Are you back from Star City yet?”

“My train’s pulling in now,” Lily glanced around her, noticing for the first time how crowded the train had become. “It’s packed. Everyone wants to see the particle accelerator start up.”

“It goes online pretty soon,” Leonard reminded her. “Mick’s been waiting for this moment for so long. He can’t wait to see what comes from it. Offered me the opportunity to be there with him when he turns it on, but work came up.”

“Shame,” Lily lamented, settling back in her seat. “I’m happy for him.”

“Did things go okay in Star City?” he asked. “Did the university over there agree to help you?”

Lily sighed, looking at the case beside her. “The board said no. They’re stretched thin on funds and won’t take on any new projects, even though they said they were interested in FIRESTORM and its potential.”

“You’ll find something,” her brother said as the train slowed to a halt at the station. “Maybe you can talk to Mick?”

“That’ll be my last resort,” Lily replied as she picked up the case holding the FIRESTORM matrix. “Hey, my train just pulled in. Talk later?”

“See you later, sis.”

                Lily ended the call and exited the train. Instead of heading home like she had planned, she ended up following the sea of people going towards STAR Labs.  Most seemed to be on their way to see how things were working out, but there were some protesters mingled among them. Lily wove in and out of them, clutching the case holding what could be her greatest accomplishment close to her chest.

                As she made her way up the steps to the plaza in front of the building, the ground shuddered. There was a muffled boom that shook STAR Labs next. People started shouting and pointing at the sky before turning to run. Lily looked up as people pushed past her to see a golden wave rushing up into the sky. It pulsed outwards in a wave as a fleeing bystander ran into her. FIRESTORM’s case fell from her arms and tumbled down the steps.

                The scientist pursued her project through the mess of people. They were all nearly far gone from her as she bent beside the case. It had come open in the fall, and the matrix was now lying next to it. Lifting it up to check for damage, Lily felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and whirled around to see the golden wave. It rushed towards her and slammed into her body like a strong wind. Agonizing pain set into her entire being, as if she was on fire, before Lily blacked out.

When she awoke in an alleyway, the body she was in was not her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next part- Linda Park.
> 
> Reviews=Love
> 
> Also, @misscrazyfangirl321 made a board for E4 Firestorm, as well as a few other E4 characters. I've made a fair amount too. Go check them out on our tumblrs (same URLs)


	5. Linda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Linda Park thought she was going to die the night the Particle Accelerator turned on and went critical. Instead, she spent a year living as the voice in the back of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I meant to post this earlier in the week, but Doomworld pushed me to put up a Foxfire story that I've had sitting for a while.
> 
> This picks up from the last chapter a little and goes beyond to show what Lily and Linda went through before they were able to celebrate. There's some Parkthawne in here (I don't know that ship name, I'm just guessing). But I hope you enjoy Linda's story.
> 
> Also, General Luthor refers to Lillian Luthor.

                The night they put the particle accelerator online was supposed to be one of the greatest nights of Linda Park’s life, and maybe even her career. As soon as Dr. Rory brought it online, everyone erupted into applause. The elation only lasted for a few minutes before a loud bang shook the room the scientists were assembled in. As soon as Linda heard it, she knew that something had gone wrong with the accelerator.

                Everyone scrambled to a computer or some other station to find out what had gone wrong. Sara was the one to figure out that the problem was the rapidly weakening containment wing. If it broke completely, then the blast would likely kill everyone within STAR Labs and the observers and protestors outside. Linda volunteered to go into the accelerator to find a way to stop it, given she had helped built the thing. Her fiancé had been concerned about her going, but Linda told Eddie she would be fine. Sara was going with her, and she had faith that her friend would have her back.

                After arriving at the entrance to the accelerator, Linda made Sara remain outside. She knew the inner workings of the accelerator better than the other woman, and could get things straightened out faster. Still, she ordered Sara to set a timer for two minutes after she first entered the accelerator. If she didn’t get back in time, then Sara was to seal the opening permanently to contain the blast It would mean certain death for Linda, but she would rather Sara have to make that hard call than Eddie.

                Once inside, her assessment was that failure was inevitable. The accelerator, the pride of STAR Labs, was going to blow. However, the blast could be directed upwards instead of outward. Making sure that happened would take longer than two minutes, but Linda knew everyone, herself included, would be dead if she turned and ran out. Staying to redirect the blast would result in fewer casualties, including her friends and Eddie. So Linda steeled her courage and set to work.

By the time she had finished doing all she could, Linda sat down against the sealed entrance and picked up her radio. “Sara?”

A crackle of static. “Yeah, I’m here, Linda.”

“I realigned the magnets” Linda explained as something sparked above her. “It’s still going to explode, but now it’s going to go up instead of out. Sara, you need to set the particle parameters to compensate.”

“On it.”

“Linda?”

Tears pooled in Linda’s eyes as she heard her fiancé’s voice. “Eddie.”

“Linda, tell me there’s a way out,” Eddie pleaded, desperation in his voice. “Tell me you can escape.”

The accelerator began to shake more. Linda looked down at the engagement ring on her finger. “The door needs to stay sealed, Eddie. I can’t open it now. I’m sorry, babe.”

“Linda, I love you.”

                A red-orange light surged towards Linda as she whispered ‘I love-’ back to him through the radio. She didn’t get the last word out as the light engulfed her. As much as she wished could have stared death in the face without fear, Linda screamed before the matter tore her entire being into scattered atoms before absorbing it. She never knew that Sara was crying on the other side of the door, or that Eddie had fallen to the floor, holding the radio close to his chest.

When she woke up, there was another presence within her body, but it controlled her movements instead of her. Linda Park had become reduced to a voice in the back of her own head and a helpless observer to the world around her.

* * *

 

                The explosion had done something to Linda and the other presence that controlled her body, a woman who called herself Lily Stein. They were two minds in one body that had a tendency to catch on fire- which neither woman had ever experienced. For a few months, they lived on the streets, looking insane with the way Lily was always talking to Linda aloud. One day, Linda urged Lily to seek out Sara Lance, not wanting to face Eddie the way she was. But when she approached the scientist, she was barely able to get in a few words when half a dozen armored vans showed up and threw Lily and Linda inside while knocking out Sara when she tried to go after her.

                When Lily and Linda awoke, they were inside a prison cell. It didn’t take much longer before they figured out they were at an Army base based on the uniforms they say when they were taken off towards a room. Over the next few months, they became subject to testing by the military led by a General Luthor, who wanted to make them a superweapon to be used at the military’s command. The offer was presented at first for them to accept, which both refused. Their refusal was seen by Luthor as a go-ahead to force them to be tortured until Lily and Linda agreed to work for her.

                After a year of living in the same body, a red blur sped into the cell block and asked where Lily Stein and Linda Park were. Lily signaled their location with a shout, and they were soon freed from their cell. Soldiers came pouring in to stop them, but Lily and Linda were able to use their newfound ability to set themself on fire and hurtle fireballs at them while the red blur knocked out the ones they missed. He then took them out of the base and into STAR Labs. Linda was stunned to see that Eddie was there with Sara and Dr. Rory, along with an older couple who Lily called her parents. The man in red removed his mask, and Lily recognized him as her brother.

                Once they were able to clean up a little, Dr. Rory explained the situation to Linda and Lily. Linda had been vaporized in the accelerator, but her atoms had been scattered in the blast and Lily had absorbed them due to something she was holding called FIRESTORM. It allowed Linda to contain her mind and her body, even though Lily was able to take control somehow. Then there was the ability to light up on fire, which Dr. Rory believed was another effect of the accelerator.

“Can this be reversed?” Lily asked for the both of them. “Can we become two people again?”

Dr. Rory smiled. “It might just be your lucky day.”

* * *

 

                Once Eddie attached the quantum splicer to their chest, he smiled and stepped back. Linda could feel something happening within her body. She had always felt like she and Lily were forced to become one with no way to break apart. Now, with the splicer, Linda felt she could split away from Lily, as if she had control of her own body again. A burst of flame shot up with them, and Linda took a step forward, stumbling a little.

                When the fire dissipated into the air, Linda was in her own body and able to control it. She was wearing the same clothes she had worn the night the particle accelerator went critical, although they were now torn and dirty. To her right was a second woman, a brunette, who wore equally torn and dirty clothing. She looked as relieved as Linda did to be free.

The woman, who must have been Lily, ran towards the older couple and the man in the red suit, her family. On Linda’s side of the room, Eddie was approaching her now. “Linda?”

Linda smiled and nodded. She closed the distance between them and kissed him for the first time in over a year.

“I missed you,” she sighed, resting her forehead against his.

Eddie smiled. “I missed you too. I thought you were dead, Linda. I couldn’t move on.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Linda said, kissing him again before remembering they still had company in the room. Lily had finished her reunions, and was now meeting Sara. Linda stepped away from Eddie and towards the woman she had spent the past year sharing a form with.

“Lily Stein, I presume?” Linda said, getting a nod from the other woman. “Nice to put a name to voice in my head.”

* * *

 

                The women learned that they could control the merge so they both could remain in control when Luthor came after them. When they were together, they could set themselves on fire without harm, fly, and hurl fireballs at people. The year before the split had been hell, but Lily and Linda actually enjoyed it. They started helping out Lily’s brother, who had been calling himself the Flash. It was Sara that gifted an official name (as well as a suit to wear in the field) to them.

Firestorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you go, the story of Firestorm before they became Legends.
> 
> Next chapter- the Hawks, starting with Khufu. Although in the life he meets the Legends, he goes by John Diggle.
> 
> Reviews=Love


	6. John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Diggle never asked to be a reincarnated Egyptian prince who could fly, but he's going with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! This is another sort of two part fic- this time focusing on Earth-4's Hawks. I have a lot more love for these versions, mostly because there's no Carter. It's no secret that I have no love for Carter Hall.
> 
> I hope you enjoy what I've done with this.

                After the gathering dismissed, Khufu watched Chay-Ara closely. The priestess caught his eye and nodded before slipping off into one of the halls. Khufu put an irked expression on his face and followed after her. They’d put on a show of quarreling about offerings to the gods to get an answer regarding the rocks that had been shooting across the sky. He had to keep up the appearance of dissent between them in order to prevent any suspicion of a relationship.

                He followed the twisting halls of the place before a pair of hands pulled him behind a corner. Khufu’s hand went to his sword before he saw the face of the woman he loved. Once he saw her, he relaxed almost immediately. The light of the torches made Chay-Ara’s eyes gleam as she leaned in close to kiss him.

“You did well in the meeting today,” he murmured to her, his hand tracing up her arm and over the bracelet he had given her. “I almost believed I had made you angry.”

“I could say the same for you,” Chay-Ara replied. “But I intend to follow through with more offerings. We need the protection of the gods.”

“They will protect us,” Khufu assured her, pressing another kiss to her lips before moving to kiss the side of her neck.

The priestess gave a low moan of pleasure. “My love, someone could come.”

“There is no one here to see us,” he reminded her. “We are alone.”

A smile crept across her lips as her hands curled around his back. Neither lover was aware that they were not as alone as they thought. They had no idea what was coming soon for them, or in the eras to follow.

* * *

 

                In the two hundred and seventh life that Khufu lived, his name was John Diggle. He never looked the same in every reincarnation, and neither did Chay-Ara. But they still always were able to find each other, and their memories and love for each other always rose back up to the surface. Horus granted his last words true, and his blessing on them was evident with their wings that could emerge. However, his blessing did not protect them from Hath-Set, now calling himself Vandal Savage, hunting them down in every life and killing them to remain immortal.

                He remembered who he was in this life when he was goofing off in his twenties. John thought that he could walk along the edge of a building without falling off, but only made it halfway. Instead of ending up a mess on the pavement, his wings emerged and he remembered who he was. Armed with the new knowledge of who he was and the memories of Chay-Ara and Savage, John picked up his life and began to search for the one he loved. Chay-Ara could handle herself, he knew that, but they were stronger together. Besides, he missed her.

                John spent over a year and a half searching for Chay-Ara. He had no idea if she remembered who she was yet or not, or where she was located in the world. She was at none of the locations they’d lived at in their previous lives when he searched them. With every place came old memories of the lives that had been lived there. Some place were good, while others were more bittersweet.

                Finally, he ended up in Middleton. In all of his lives, neither of them had ever been there. John managed to get himself a job to lie low with that wouldn’t draw the attention of Vandal Savage. When he went to go check out an apartment to rent, he ended up running into a woman in nurse’s scrubs. Their eyes met, and John knew that he had found Chay-Ara. She simply murmured an apology before leaving the building. Even before he was shown the apartment, John knew that he was going to sticking around.

                He ended up running into Chay-Ara again completely on accident while getting coffee at Jitters a week later. She introduced herself as Lyla Michaels, a nurse at the nearby hospital. Apparently, she lived on the same floor as him, just down the hall, something John hadn’t even known. She didn’t seem to remember him, at least not yet. But after four thousand years of reincarnation, he knew she would soon since they had met.

                They ran into each other a few more times before she asked him if he wanted to go out together sometimes. It rained on their first date, but didn’t dampen the mood between them. John grew closer to Lyla, falling in love with her all over again. In the back of his mind, he contemplated ways to tell Lyla that they had known each other since ancient times. She seemed like she was starting to get close after she made a remark that she felt she’d met him somewhere before.

                Lyla was finally able to remember who she was after two months together. They were walking home from a movie when a mugger tried to take advantage of them. John had taken him on, and was about to be stabbed in the stomach by the opponent. That was when Lyla’s wings emerged, and she threw herself at the mugger. John hat to pull her off before she could bring too much bodily harm to him, and brought her back to his apartment. Once they were both inside, Lyla told him that she remembered being Chay-Ara now. She still couldn’t remember everything that she had lived and died through, but she knew who he was, what they were, and how they had come to this.

“Do you know where Savage is?” she asked once she had calmed down some more.

John shook his head. “I’ve tried, but no dice. He’s not here though. For now, we’re safe.”

                Lyla wanted to remember who she was, and John did everything he could to help her. Usually, she had been the first to remember who she was, and in every life where he remembered first, he did everything he could to help her process move along quickly. John told her stories of old lives, and managed to dig up pieces from them to show her. They started to train together, both to help Lyla regain her old skills and to prepare for a fight if they couldn’t outrun Savage. With every day, more memories were coming back to them and they continued to get stronger. Maybe in this life, they could make it without being killed.

                Then Vandal Savage arrived in Middleton. Lyla had raced home after her shift at the hospital to tell John that she had seen him there. Their murderer was posing as a new doctor there. He hadn’t seen her, at least not yet, but it would be only a matter of time before he did. As much as both wanted to defeat Savage, neither were at the stage yet where they felt confident they would succeed. Instead, they choose to pack up the essentials within their lives and leave Middleton for somewhere else. Previous lives had taught them they couldn’t take out Savage alone. Until they found people strong enough to fight side by side with them, the two of them would have to keep running.

For years, that was what they did before they ended up in Star City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBC...in the next chapter with Lyla Michaels. I plan to post her board on my Tumblr soon, and John's will be up there once I have the link uploaded. I wish I could put it up here, but I don't know how to do it.
> 
> Reviews=Love


	7. Lyla

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For four thousand years, Priestess Chay-Ara and her lover have been killed by Vandal Savage two hundred and six times. Life two hundred and seven begins a different story for the battle Lyla Michaels faces with her fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! This week's been a bit stressful for me, so I didn't have a lot of time for writing fanfiction. But now that it's my weekend (and I've finished catching up on Legends, Prison Break, and Riverdale), I can finally tell Lyla's story.
> 
> Hope this has been worth the wait to find out what happens to Lyla and John.

                Chay-Ara wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with the man she loved, but a small voice in her head reminded her she couldn’t. She was due at the temple soon. Being late was something she couldn’t afford, even before she had begun her relationship with Khufu. Maintaining the temple of Horus was her duty, and she could not neglect it.

Slowly, she started to rise from the bed and Khufu’s arms. Her movement made him sit up beside her.

“Stay a little longer,” he murmured.

“I’m due at the temple soon,” Chay-Ara reminded him, pressing a kiss against his lips.

Khufu smiled. “You can be a little bit late.”

“The offerings need to be made to Horus,” Chay-Ara climbed out of the bed and put on her robe. “The augers have been predicting more sky rocks to fall. We need protection more than ever. I shouldn’t let Hath-Set deal with the offerings alone.”

“That snake can do it himself,” Khufu remarked, drawing a smirk from Chay-Ara.

“Such a compliment from you,” a new voice sneered.

                Chay-Ara whirled around to see Hath-Set standing in the entryway to her chamber. She had no idea how long he had been standing there for. He must have heard and seen enough to figure out the nature of her relationship with Khufu. This was not a good sign.

“I believe it is forbidden for a royal to lay with one of the clergy,” Hath-Set said, a nasty smile creeping across his face. “The penalty for such an infraction is death, no?”

Khufu bolted up to stand beside her. “Get out now.”

Hath-Set tilted his head mockingly. “You think I fear you or your father, when an end is so near?”

“I think you’re a fool not to,” Khufu scowled, taking hold of Chay-Ara’s staff.

“I would not bat an eye killing you,” the priest said calmly, stepping towards Chay-Ara. “And then I will take Chay-Ara as you have.”

He raised a hand to stroke her cheek, but she snapped her wrist up to grab his before he could.

“I am not some prize to be won,” she spat. “And I shall never be yours.”

                Khufu charged forward at Hath-Set suddenly. The two grappled as Chay-Ara scrambled to find a weapon. She caught sight of the dagger Khufu had given to her and grabbed it before running at the priest of Horus.  Hath-Set and Khufu’s struggle prevented her from getting in a kill blow, but she was able to drive the blade into their opponent’s side. Their foe howled in pain before yanking it out. A moment later, the dagger was in Khufu’s chest.

“No!” Chay-Ara screamed, grabbing the fallen staff and running at Hath-Set herself.

                When he saw her coming at him, the man pulled the dagger from Khufu. Chay-Ara fought Hath-Set until he grabbed a hold of her staff. Once he had it, he used it to pull her forward and impale her upon the dagger. Chay-Ara gasped as her organs were ripped through by the metal. Once Hath-Set removed it, she fell to the floor beside her lover. She turned to look at Khufu as the ground began to shudder.

“The end has come,” Hath-Set laughed in triumph.

                He began to make threats to follow both of them into every life and hunt them down to bring death upon them again. Chay-Ara met Khufu’s eyes through all of it. Reaching out, she grasped his bloody hand.

“Horus,” she whispered, praying to the god who she had been serving since she was a child. “Your children need protection. We need your blessing.”

“Chay,” Khufu rasped.

Chay-Ara smiled at him. “I will love you for eternity.”

“As will I,” he vowed, giving her hand one last squeeze. “Come back to me.”

“Always.”

Around them, objects began to glow, including the dagger they had been stabbed with and the lid of a vessel that was shaped as the head of Horus.

* * *

 

                Over four thousand years after her first death (and many more since then), the two hundredth and seventh reincarnation of Priestess Chay-Ara, Lyla Michaels, was standing outside a warehouse with her soulmate. For years, she and John had been running, searching for something that could defeat Vandal Savage once and for all. They’d tried to do this before in previous lives, but this life had new twists. Vigilantes and metahumans were now a part of this world. A group of them had crossed Lyla and John’s path, and became allies in the quest to vanquish Savage.

                The final showdown was imminent after Savage threaten to destroy Star City, Central City, and many others if Lyla and John were not handed over to him. Laurel Lance did not want to cower and comply with the evil immortal’s demands, but also didn’t want her city to fall into destruction. Her husband and the others assembled agreed with her, and a plan was soon developed to put an end to Savage once and for all. Lyla and John would not have to face Savage alone in the battle, but would fight alongside heroes.

“Are you ready?” Charlie Snow, the Firebird, asked her as he and Tommy Merlyn took positions on either side of John and Lyla to bring them into the warehouse to meet Savage.

“For four thousand years of madness to end?” Lyla nodded, rolling her shoulders a little. “Absolutely.”

Tommy was looking at his wife, the Snart siblings, and Mick Rory. “You know when to come in.”

“We’ve been paying attention,” Leonard Snart said. “We know what to do.”

“And we’re keeping a close eye back here,” Eddie Thawne’s voice said through the comms. “But you might want to get in and make that deadline first.”

                John looked at Lyla and smiled briefly as Tommy and Charlie lead them into the warehouse where Savage was waiting. Lyla’s blood boiled at the sight of the man who had killed them two hundred and six times. He leered at her as the two men stopped them a few yards from the immortal. Lyla could see John clenching his fists, and that he was itching to draw his blade. She didn’t blame him, as she was just as tempted to make use of her mace. But they needed the plan to play out as it was supposed to if they were to succeed.

“I see you have brought what belongs to me,” Savage sneered, the staff of Horus in his hands.

“You have what you want now,” Charlie said coldly.

                Savage stepped forward, which was just what they had wanted. A streak of red that was Leonard Snart raced into the room, bringing Mick Rory with him. The pyrokinetic placed his hands on the ground, summoning up a wall of fire separating them from Savage. He stepped back from the flames quickly to stand beside Charlie and Leonard. Lisa Snart entered with Laurel in a blur of yellow, taking a place besides Tommy. Savage was glaring murderously at the assembled heroes. The encounter wasn’t over yet, but Lyla felt a smug sense of triumph.

“You think you can trick me,” Savage snarled, raising his staff.

                Mick summoned a fireball and hurtled it at the staff, hitting right where Savage’s hand was. He released it with yell as the fire and newly heated metal burned his skin. Lisa darted forward to snatch it up as Savage threw two daggers towards Mick. Leonard caught them before they could do any damage before turning back to Tommy. Lisa passed the archer the staff as Leonard gave him a thumbs up.

                Knowing what was to come, Lyla opened her wings and flew upwards. John followed her example as Laurel stepped forward now. They were supposed to leave while the others dealt with Savage, but Lyla was going to stay. She had to see him ended for herself.

                The Black Canary opened her mouth and directed the full force of her cry at Savage. The immortal fell to his knees, unable to block out the shrill screaming. Tommy leaped forward then, wearing the gloved that Mick and Sara had developed for the staff, and turned it on its owner. A burst of light came from where Savage was struck. When it faded, Tommy was still standing, but there was a pile of dust where Vandal Savage had been.

                Lyla flew down to land beside Tommy as the rest of the fighters gathered around what was left of Savage. She let out a long breath as she stared at the dust. For centuries, he had killed her and John, orphaned any children they’d had, and murdered or ruined the lives of anyone who had tried to help them. Now, he was finally gone. She and John were free of him.

“We did it,” she sighed, turning to the man she loved. “We’re free.”

                John removed his helmet to kiss her properly. Lyla felt even more in love with him now that they didn’t have someone trying to kill them. They could do whatever they wanted to now. The dreams they’d had for this life could now be made into reality. Together, they could actually live a life, and it was all because Savage was gone.

Neither of them knew that the threat to their lives was not gone, but had only been temporarily set back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. Lyla's story and the story of the Hawks have been told.
> 
> Next chapter, something I've been looking forward to writing- Barry Allen.


	8. Barry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Hero’ is the last word Barry Allen would ever use to describe himself. ‘Criminal’ suits him better. You don’t live a life like his and be considered selfless, brave, and true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I found time to type up Barry's chapter. This week has been hectic, but I finally managed to get this down, so hooray!
> 
> Hints of Captain Canary if you squint.

                Barry Allen’s life changed when he was eleven years old, and his parents didn’t pick him up from Tony Woodward’s birthday party. All the other kids who had slept over had been taken home by their parents, but no one came for Barry. Mr. Woodward called the Allen house only to have no one pick up on the other end. He then drove Barry home and knocked on the door, which creaked opened as he did so. Figuring something was wrong when Barry’s parents didn’t answer, he called the police, and the next thing Barry knew, there were two body bags being wheeled out of his house as Joe West, Iris’s dad, told him that his parents were dead.

                Joe took Barry in as the investigation went underway to reveal Henry and Nora Allen had been murdered by some thieves who broke in. Barry hated them for taking his parents away, and started to withdraw from his friends. Soon, Iris was the only one he had left, which was fine with Barry. Joe did everything he could for the two of them, and Barry knew that he was trying his best. There was only so much you could do sometimes.

                His world, along with Iris’s, changed again one day six months after he came to stay with the Wests. A knock on the door lead to the two finding out that Officer Joe West had been shot in the pursuit of a fleeing criminal, and died on the scene. Joe was all Iris had left, and his death tossed her and Barry into the foster system. They ended up in a group home together, both of them now filled with bitterness over their losses. Barry suggested they run away somewhere else together, and started stealing things to help them along the way.

                Two months before his fourteenth birthday, Barry got caught by the police while stealing for himself and Iris. He ended up getting sent to juvie for the crime, not even getting a chance to say goodbye to Iris. For the most part, he kept to himself and observed everything that happened around him. Some kids tried to pick on him once, but he had picked up some tricks of his own from experiences in the system and made sure they didn’t pick on him again. After that, the other delinquents learned to have respect for him and not to mess around with him. Barry started to enjoy his new power, and found good uses for it.

                By the time he was released, Barry had grown much colder to the world. He had become someone you didn’t dare cross if you could help it. The only people he could let himself trust were Iris and the one friend he’d made in juvie, Cisco Ramon. Barry was sent to a new group home, but ran away after only a month staying there. He found a way to get back in touch with Cisco after finding out his friend had gotten kicked out of his house. Together, they fended for themselves and searched for Iris.

                Finally, the two were able to track down Iris as at a juvenile center for girls. She had been sent there not long after Barry had been sentenced. With the help of Cisco, Barry worked his way into the database to find a way to get her out.  He eventually managed to get the conviction altered enough for her to be erased. It was illegal, but this was for Iris. Besides, he didn’t care. This was what he did now.

It was just the beginning of his criminal career.

* * *

 

                Barry Allen was never hit by the dark matter the night the particle accelerator failed. However, he still found a way to make something out of it. Months after the blast and the shutdown of STAR Labs, Barry broke in to see if there was anything he could steal. The place was a jackpot of goodies for him, and he was able to make off with lots of stuff. Those who were still inside never knew he’d been there.

                He was able to make plenty of money selling some of the things until he came across the gun. It was built of some dark metal that had a nice sturdy feel to it. Barry decided that he was going to be testing this one out for himself. When he fired the gun at the wall of the warehouse, an icy blue beam shot out of the end of it and coated the wall in a thick sheen of ice. As soon as he witnessed what it could do, Barry knew that he’d be holding onto this one. He had a feeling it would come in handy someday.

                The day to use the gun came when he was trying to list a valuable emerald from a truck transporting it to the museum in Central City. That was the day that he first encountered the red blur that had been zipping around the city. Until seeing him in action, Barry had just thought that the Flash was a myth. If he wanted to get away with this heist, then he would need something to combat the speedster.

                He encountered the Flash again before he was finally able to go through with stealing the emerald. That was when Barry learned that the cold gun was an effective weapon to use against a speedster. The cold gun, as he’d dubbed it, also had a nice way of giving nasty cases of frostbite to people, and that was when it was just on the lowest settings. There was a lot to learn about his new favorite weapon, but he’d do that once he was free and clear out of Central City with the emerald.

                The night Barry stole the emerald, the Flash turned up yet again. Normally, Barry would have been pissed to have been caught before making his getaway. However, he found he was actually looking forward to the red bastard making an appearance. A little fun could be had with him. Besides, it wasn’t like the Flash was on the police’s payroll or anything.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime?” the Flash taunted, a smug smirk visible through the cowl he wore with his suit.

Barry glowered at him through the goggles he wore that had been with the cold gun (probably due to the glare of the gun). “Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Maybe…stopping a couple pile-ups.”

The Flash frowned, and Barry took the opening to fire the gun at the intersection behind them. A patch of ice started to spread across the road. Cars hit it and immediately began to spin out of control.

“So what’s it going to be?” Barry smirked as the Flash looked towards the impeding carnage.

                The speedster ended up making the hero move to go and rescue people from the pile-up. Barry quickly hotwired a car and sped off, using the cold gun to cause some more accidents in his wake.  When he was nearly out of city limits, he pulled over beside a billboard and shut the car lights off to wait. Sure enough, the Flash came to a stop beside the sign, looking around for him. Barry shot the cold gun at him then twice. The first knocked him over to the ground, and the second coated his body in a layer of ice.

“You need to chill out,” Barry laughed, emerging from the shadows. “But I think this game’s come to an end.”

                The Flash looked pissed off. Barry started to charge up the cold gun when a louder whine sounded behind him. He turned his head to look towards the source. A blonde woman in a pale gray coat was holding a black gun larger than the cold gun. Her blue eyes blazed with fury.

“Back away from him,” the woman ordered. “Do it now!”

Barry didn’t move. “Or what?”

“Or you get to meet this,” she snarled. “Molecular dissipator. One blast, and you should be scattered atoms.”

                She was bluffing. Her hands were shaking as she held the gun up. Barry highly doubted that she had ever shot someone before. Then again, Iris had used this type of behavior as a scare tactic before. It worked wonders in getting people to listen up. They would assume she had never shot anyone before, but then she would surprise them. This woman could easily be pulling the same thing.

“So what’s it going to be, Captain Cold?” the blonde demanded.

Barry made his decision and lowered the cold gun. These two were actually quite fun. It could be quite the game between them if he made a return to Central City. And he definitely was planning one. He’d need some reinforcements first.

“You win this round,” he told the Flash. “Next time...well, we’ll see.”

                He made his way back to the car he’d stolen. As he opened the door, he looked back to see the blonde drop the gun and run over to the Flash. Based on how quickly she dropped it, he figured that it had been a dummy. She knelt beside him, examining the area that she’d iced him. Barry raised his eyebrows at them before getting inside and driving off. He did double back to the warehouse he’d been staying in. There was a second gun he’d stolen from STAR Labs that he couldn’t leave behind. He wasn’t sure if he’d find Iris or Cisco first, but whoever came first would be getting that gun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the penultimate chapter, you get the story of the last Legend- Iris West.
> 
> Reviews=Love


	9. Iris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those who do not know Iris West underestimate her. The ones who do know that she is the last person you should ever cross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while to get up given I've been wrapping up final projects and exams. Thankfully, all are done now.
> 
> I had a lot of fun with Earth-4 Iris.

“Your turn, Bar,” Iris West told the other boy after she finished moving her piece on the board game.

Barry Allen nodded and flicked the dial on the spinner. It had been six months since his parents had been found dead in their home while he was at a sleepover. He’d come to live with her and her dad just after it happened. Since then, Iris had watched Barry pull away from everyone he knew except for her. She knew he missed his parents, something she couldn’t blame him for. Her own mother had died along with her baby brother when things went wrong during his birth. But at least Barry wasn’t pushing her away too. Friendship had brought them together, but their losses had made them even closer.

                Someone knocked on the front door. Iris frowned and rose to her feet. Her dad wasn’t supposed to be back from the precinct yet. Even then, he wouldn’t forget his keys. They weren’t expecting any packages or someone to come by either.

                Peeking through the window, Iris saw the officer who worked the same shift as her father standing on the front step. He was shuffling from foot to foot in wait. Backing away from the window, Iris decided she could open the door for him, even though her father told her not to open the door for anyone when he was out at work. But this was someone who he worked with and a friend of the family. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too mad.

“Who is it?” Barry asked as Iris made her way over to the door.

“Someone who knows Dad,” she told him as she turned the handle and pulled towards her, smiling at the man on the doorstep. “Officer Rathaway?”

The man looked down at her. “Hey, Iris. Is Barry with you?”

She nodded. “How come?”

“I need the two of you to come with me,” he explained, his voice sorrowful. “You might want to grab a book or something to do.”

“Why?” Iris demanded. “Where’s my dad? Why isn’t he here?”

Officer Rathaway swallowed. “Iris, it’s your dad.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice quieter than she would have liked it to be.

“He was shot,” the man told her. “And he didn’t make it. Your father’s gone. I’m sorry, Iris.”

                Iris felt like she’d been punched in the chest as the news sunk in. Barry came up beside her and led her to go get the book she was currently reading. Then she and Barry followed Officer Rathaway to his cruiser and got in the back. On the drive to the police precinct, she was able to hold herself together as Barry reached over and clasped her hand. Only when they arrived and the officer went to go find someone did Iris West finally start to cry.

                Losing her father taught Iris a lesson she would carry with her for the years to come. She knew nothing in the world was safe or fair. It if was, then she would still have her father and Barry would still have his parents. The only way to survive in the world was to know that it could rip things away from you in an instant. You just had to make sure you were the one who took and not the one who lost.

* * *

 

                By the time they were legal adults, Iris and Barry officially considered themselves criminals. They’d run away from the foster system after their stints in juvie and started crashing in an old warehouse with Cisco Ramon. Alongside the kid Barry had met in juvie, they became their own trio of thieves and liars. People knew not to underestimate Barry or even Cisco, but she was the wild card. Staying in the shadows and striking at the most unexpected moment was what she did best, but those who had encountered her before knew she was more than a pretty face.

“I would advise backing away from him,” she once said when a mobster had a gun aimed at Barry when he demanded more than the original deal had required. “Unless you want a new hole in you.”

                The man had sneered at her. He bought her show as a silly inexperienced girl. Her shaking hand on the gun really sold it. Barry knew she was for real though. She could see it in the smile that slowly spread across his face.

“You’ve never shot a person before,” the mobster laughed. “You don’t have the guts to pull the trigger.”

“Watch me,” was her response before firing at his kneecap.

In the end, she and Barry got the deal they wanted.

* * *

 

                When Iris learned about Barry’s acquisition of a cold gun, she decided to make a return to Central City. By the time she arrived there, she discovered he and Cisco were gearing up to go against a man with super speed who had been fighting crime in Central. It wasn’t too hard for her to steal a police officer’s uniform and blend in with the rest of the cops who were watching the showdown. She gazed in amazement as Barry shot ice and Cisco fire towards the speedster, who had been dubbed the Flash. This wasn’t their first altercation, but she wished that she had been there for the others or even with Barry for them.

After the Flash gained the upper hand and won the battle, she followed the swarm of authorities who went to apprehend the newly dubbed Captain Cold and Heatwave. Iris made sure that she was in the vehicle that was transporting them to the police precinct.  From there, it was simply taking the other officer out, driving the vehicle off the grid, and swapping the cruiser with another car she had stashed ahead of time. Barry and Cisco had been pleased to see her as she revealed herself to them.

“Nice gun,” she complimented Barry once the three had reached their safe house in Central City.

Barry gave a half smile, glancing down at the weapon. “If I’d found you before Cisco, then you would have gotten that heat gun.”

“Pity,” Iris shook her head. “It’s such a nice gun too. “

“You’re not getting it,” Cisco said as he stripped out of his new red leather jacket. “I’ve got dibs. Build your own gun.”

She smirked. “Maybe I will.”

                Iris West might have been known for being a ruthless thief masked by a pretty face, but she could do anything if she set her mind to it and was skilled in putting stuff together. She paid a hacker to get her into STAR Labs and pull off the schematics for both Barry and Cisco’s guns. Once she had those, the next step was to get her hands on materials to make the gun. That proved to be slightly harder than the previous step. In the end though, she managed to find what she needed, although a smuggler was left with one less finger in the ordeal.

                She spent months working on her gun. Barry already had cold and Cisco had heat. Iris was not going to be associated as a copycat. Her gun was going to need something to define itself and her as the equal of the other two. For a week, she pondered what hers would do. Then her eyes had landed on the gold locket that had belonged to the previous owner of the house they were staying in. That was when she knew what to do.

                The core of the gun was difficult to work with. It took a few attempts before Iris finally accepted that she was going to need help from an outside source. A little digging lead her to find a former scientist of STAR Labs who could help her figure out her problem. It took some coercion, but the scientist was able to get the core working for her. All that remained was a test run. For that, she would be enlisting the help of her partners in crime.

“So what does this gun of yours do?” Cisco asked as Iris set the pear on the table.

“Just you wait,” Iris told him as she took a few steps back and pointed the gun at the fruit.

As her finger squeezed the trigger, a stream of golden liquid shot out of the end of the gun. It hit the pear dead center. The liquid wrapped around it, encasing it completely by the time Iris relaxed her finger.

Cisco stepped forward and picked up the golden pear. “Damn.”

“I’ll say,” Barry grinned over at her. “Gold suits you better than fire or ice.”

Iris smirked smugly. “I’m on your level now.”

“All you need left is a code name given to you by one of the Flash’s friends,” Barry said. “Wonder what they’ll call you...”

It was another month before Iris got her first face-off with the Flash. Shortly after, she got a name from Eddie Thawne when she threatened to kill him if the Flash didn’t let Barry walk free.

Golden Glider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter- the assembly of the Legends.
> 
> Now the next chapter could be the end of this, or I can add another where the Legends tell people that they're going time traveling. Do you all want to see that?


	10. Legends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda Coburn finally assembles the ragtag group of criminals, metahumans, demigods, and the assassin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the final chapter of the story, but I ended up caving in and writing one more that will follow this. But here, we finally see the Legends being recruited. Given this is another Earth, I spread everyone out a little more.
> 
> Also, as far as translations go (I know no Korean, so Google Translate) :  
> Ani...ani... - No..no..  
> Dagchyeo! - Shut up!  
> Anioneun anioleul uimihabnida! - No means no!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Like the others, I had a lot of fun writing it.

_Fawcett City_

                One would think that defending a city for a few years would maybe drive some sense into people to not keep smuggling drugs into the city anymore. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case and drugs kept getting smuggled in at the same rate. Tonight, it was a shipment of cocaine coming into one of the airfields courtesy of one of the drug pushers who had challenged the Atom herself on plenty of occasions. Helena shook her head in disgust when she saw him enter the room from where she was hiding in miniform.

“Cops aren’t too far out,” Rene’s voice came through the helmet to her. “If you want to take them out, now’s your chance.”

“I’ve got this,” she replied. “Next time I call in, put in that order for Thai.”

“Thought tonight was my pick.”

“You had your pick last night and you know it.”

“So?”

“My turn tonight,” Helena smirked. “See you soon.

                Concentrating her powers, she lowered her visor and grew back up to her normal height. The drug pusher and his lackeys started to fire their weapons at her. Thankfully, her armored suit was bulletproof. With a smirk, Helena fired up the propulsion system and shot straight at them. Within minutes, all of them were incapacitated.

                As the last one fell to the floor, someone started to clap. Helena straightened back up and whirled towards the noise. A woman with dark hair and a brown coat was entering the warehouse. She carried herself confidently, as if the idea of the Atom standing amid unconscious baddies was completely natural.

“Ms. Bertinelli,” the stranger said, pulling a strange device from the inside of her coat. “I apologize in advance.”

A light flashed in her eyes, blinding Helena and sending her into unconsciousness.

* * *

 

_East Korea_

“Ani...ani...”

“Dagchyeo!”

                Caitlin felt the bloodlust start to rise up in her as she saw the man force himself upon his victim. Two others were standing by, watching it take place. Memories from the Amazo swirled up from the depths of her memory. How she had been screaming for Ivo’s men to leave her alone as others watched. She’d had no one there to stop it, not until she finally stole a knife and stabbed one of them in the shoulder.

No one would ever have to suffer through what she did if she could help it.

“Hey!” Caitlin shouted, drawing the attention of the assholes towards her. “Anioneun anioleul uimihabnida!”

                The two observers laughed as the attacker shoved his victim to the side. Caitlin gave a short nod to the person on the ground, who scrambled to their feet and took off running. Her adversaries were taller and brawnier than she was, but she knew that she would be able to take them. A smile tugged at her lips as she drew out her swords. They charged within seconds.

                On Caitlin’s end, the fight took a lot of restraint. She could easily slice through them, break their necks, disembowel them. The bloodlust within her demanded it of her. But she was no longer Finiks, the heartless assassin. She had stopped being a killer for the sake of her soul, for Charlie and her mother, for Tommy and Laurel and Sin. So giving them only minor harm was she had to deal with for now, even though they deserved worse.

As the last thug fell, Caitlin sheathed her swords. She pushed a piece of her hair back as rain began to fall from the sky. Thunder rumbled in the sky as the assassin walked away from the bodies.

“Caitlin Snow.”

Her swords were out again in an instant as a brunette stepped from the shadows. Her eyes widened momentarily at the swords.

“I mean no harm to you, but I’ve come very far to find you.”

Before Caitlin could ask who she was, the woman lifted something that sent out a flash of bright white light.

* * *

 

_Keystone City_

“There they are,” Linda said aloud as she soared above the stretch of road beside the waterfront, watching the van speed along it.

“All there is now is to make sure they don’t get away,” Lily’s voice echoed inside her head. “Maybe we should take out the tires?”

“We’ll cut them off at the road ahead,” Linda murmured. “Ready?”

“Do it!”

                Linda let their combined form fall from the sky. A whoop of excitement from Lily slipped out of her as air rushed past them. Before they could hit the water, Linda reignited and shot across the water towards the van. As soon as she was close enough to fly side by side, she let a jet of flame fly from her hand in front of it. The vehicle skidded to a stop before squealing back into reverse.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Linda shouted as she sent another fiery blast at the rear of the car.

One of the tires melted to the pavement under the heat of it. When the thieves realized they couldn’t get anywhere, they got out of the van. Both were armed and ready to fire at them. Lily told her to act fast. Linda unleashed a burst of fire and heat that sent the thieves flying back against their getaway vehicle hard. Neither got up after they fell to the ground, but Linda made sure to see if they were both still alive.

“Job well done,” she smiled.

                Linda then split apart from Linda. They had gotten more used to being Firestorm by now, although they were still learning new things about themselves. It was why they had come to Keystone for a while. Lily had wanted to talk to someone she’d consulted with during the matrix construction. Said colleague had been investigating transmutation and both women were eager to see the notes of the research on it.

“Pardon me?”

The two women turned away from the unconscious robbers to see someone approaching them.

“What the hell?” Lily frowned, looking around them.

“Where did you come from?” Linda asked at the same time.

The answer came in the form of the mysterious figure holding up a device that sent out a bright flash.

Both halves of Firestorm hit the ground like those they had just stopped.

* * *

 

_Midway City_

                Lyla Michaels descended onto the roof of the building gently. Once her feet were planted firmly on the surface, her wings folded up and vanished like they did when she wasn’t flying. John was just behind her, landing just as gracefully as she had. He made his way over to her and removed his helmet. There was a smile on his face.

“What?” Lyla shrugged as she removed her own helmet, unsure of why he was so happy.

“I love this,” he told her. “Getting to stay in one place. No longer constantly having to look over our shoulders. Being able to have a life with you.

“This is our two hundred and seventh life, Johnny,” she reminded him with a laugh.

“I know, but this one is different. We don’t have to be afraid of Savage anymore in this one.”

Lyla leaned forward and kissed him. He was right. This life was different and she loved it.

“Ready to head down?” John asked her.

“In a moment,” Lyla promised. “You go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

                He nodded and walked toward the door. Lyla turned back around and gazed out at Midway City. She closes her senses to the sounds of the nightlife and focused on the sights instead. Things had been amazing since she and John and the heroes of Star and Central had defeated Savage. She had a good job at the doctor’s office, someone who loved her as much as she loved him, and a place they could stay in for longer than six months that was home. Plus, she could fly. Lyla couldn’t remember the last life she had felt this happy and content.

                With one last look out, she headed back inside and down the stairs to their apartment. Just as she made it to her floor, she froze on the last stair step. John was lying on the floor by their unopened door, eyes closed. Lyla ran over to him, her heart starting to beat faster. There were no visible injuries on him and he still had a pulse. If anything, he looked like he was just sleeping.

“He’s fine, Lyla,” a woman’s voice came from behind her.

Lyla whipped around, unfurling her wings. The woman who’s been standing beside the elevator doors didn’t seem shocked to see a winged demigoddess in front of her. Lyla was prepared to strike with her mace when the woman flashed something in front of her. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head instantly as her wings folded up and she fell beside John.

* * *

 

_Central City_

                Iris and Barry raced towards the exit. Both carried their respective weapons and a knapsack each filled with their spoils. Normally, they could do this without tripping any of the alarms. However, sometimes it was fun to do it on purpose after they had what they had come for. The thrill of a car chase refused to ever die down with Iris. For Barry, it was coming out on top of a confrontation with the police.

“Freeze!” one of the cops yelled as they came out of the door, framed by the flashing red and blue lights of the Central City police cruisers. “Captain Cold, Golden Glider, drop your weapons-”

Barry didn’t let the man finish his sentence before firing his gun at him. Iris spun hers before sending out blasts of gold from it at the other cops. When they were all down, she smirked and walked over to their getaway car. Iris turned back to him, eyebrows raised at the sight of it.

“A station wagon?” she inquired.

“Normal vehicle,” Barry shrugged, tossing her the keys. “Shall we?”

“You’re driving this bucket,” Iris snorted, throwing the keys back to him after unlocking the passenger door.

                Barry twirled the keys around and entered the driver’s side. They weren’t driving for long before the cops got on their tail. Two police cruisers were visible in his rearview mirrors. Gritting his teeth, Barry pressed down harder on the gas pedal. As careless as he and Iris liked to be, he had absolutely no intention of getting caught.

“Barry, watch out!” Iris screamed suddenly.

                He looked from his mirror to the road to see a woman in a brown duster stepped into the middle of their path. His foot moved from the accelerator to the brake quickly. He pressed down hard, throwing himself and Iris forward slightly as the station wagon slowed. When Barry lifted his head to look up, something bright and white flashed in front of him and Iris.

Golden Glider slumped forward as Captain Cold’s head bumped into the steering wheel.

* * *

 

                Assembling the recruits had been as Miranda had expected. They probably wouldn’t be too pleased when they came to though. The criminals Gideon had questioned her selection of would likely be angered when they found out she had disabled their guns. As for the others, what she had read on them gave her confidence that they wouldn’t attack her.

                Helena Bertinelli, Caitlin Snow, Lily Stein, Linda Park, John Diggle, Lyla Michaels, Barry Allen, and Iris West. These were the people Miranda was counting on to help her save Rip and Jonas and to stop Vandal Savage. They were not the Black Canary or the Flash, who were too important to remove from the timeline for her mission. Neither were they the legendary figures she would tell them that they were in the future.

                What they were was a ragtag group who she was depending on since the Time Masters wouldn’t assist her. Geniuses and demigods and crooks and an assassin were her family and the future’s hope. It wouldn’t be easy and there were sure to be casualties, but maybe this could work. All she had to do was persuade them to join her.

As they began to stir awake, Miranda thought of how these people’s lives were about to be changed forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the actual final chapter of this story, the Legends will dealing with the time they have left before embarking on the grand adventure.
> 
> Reviews=Love!


	11. Assembly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hearing out Miranda Coburn, the eight individuals make up their minds of what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. The final chapter of Where We Started. Thank you to all who have read and commented and favorited and followed this story. You've helped my muse push through this unexpected project.
> 
> Now, enjoy the final, very long chapter.

_Helena_

“You disappeared off the comms because a woman from the future kidnapped you along with a bunch of other people to help her in stopping some guy named Vandal Savage?”

                Helena nodded along with Rene’s words. She looked over her shoulder again to make sure that none of the other Merlyn Global employees were in earshot. Lucky for her, those present seemed to be in an early morning pre-coffee daze. If not for the espressos she’d gotten earlier, she’d be in a similar state given she had flown back in her suit from Central City.

“I’ve already attempted to look up Miranda Coburn, but I got no results,” Helena told Rene. “So the being from the future thing might not be far off.”

“Are you going to join her on this mission?” her friend asked, taking a sip of his own coffee. “Do you want to go time traveling?”

                She sighed. People here in Fawcett City took the Atom as a part of their daily lives, but didn’t regard her highly like they did with the heroes in Star and Central City. It wasn’t that she cared for the recognition, not completely. Still, it’d be nice to not turn on the radio without hearing people constantly bashing her because ‘the crime wouldn’t continue if the Atom was a man’.

“I’m curious about it,” she admitted. “And then there’s other metahumans on that team, so I won’t be the shrinking freak.”

“Then go,” Rene urged her.

Helena grinned before faltering. “But my job…”

“You’ve got vacation days,” he suggested. “Besides, maybe this is the push we’ve needed to start out own company once you get back. I don’t want to deal with Jerry for the rest of my days.”

“Me neither,” Helena shook her head. “You know what? I’m going to do it.”

“Yes!” Rene cheered before lowering his voice. “I’m gonna miss our crime fighting gig though.”

“About that,” she smiled. “With me gone, there’s going to need to be a new protector of Fawcett City. Once I’ve left, go to the loft. Everything you’ll need will be there.”

* * *

 

_Caitlin_

                When Charlie entered the headquarters of Star City’s heroes, Caitlin started smiling. She rose from the seat by the computers and walked over. The siblings wrapped each other in a hug. The last time they had seen each other, Caitlin had told him she was leaving Star City to find herself again post-resurrection and to discover a way to control the bloodlust inside her. That had been months ago, and now Caitlin had arrived to tell him what had happened to her recently.

“You used to hate leaving home unless it was for school,” Charlie chuckled, twirling one of his Firebird batons. “Now you’re a world traveler, and you’re gonna be a time traveler.”

Caitlin smiled and sat back on the railing. “I’ve changed a lot since the Wand, Charlie. That, the League, the pit…it’s all changed me. Now, every time I fight someone, I fight myself too. Everywhere I’ve searched hasn’t turned up a thing that can help me. Maybe what I need to control the bloodlust is in the past or even the future?”

He grinned.

“Besides, I’ll be helping save the future,” she added. “Who’d have thought the Phoenix would wind up here?”

“Speaking of the Phoenix,” Charlie glanced behind him. “There’s something that you need to see.”

                Caitlin wrinkles her brow as Charlie led her over to the cases where he and the other members of Team Arrow kept their vigilante suits. Her brother opened one of them up and step back beside her with a proud smile. Inside, a mannequin wore dark blue leathers. A small smile spread over Caitlin’s face as she stared at it.

“How did you-”

“STAR Labs,” Charlie answered. “Part of Team Flash collaborated to make this for you.”

She stepped closer, studying it. “There’s not a mask.”

“Because you don’t need one,” her brother told her. “You don’t have to hide in the shadows anymore, Cait. Live in the light. Be the Blue Phoenix.”

Caitlin raised an eyebrow. “Blue Phoenix?”

“Eddie’s idea,” Charlie shrugged. “Besides, blue always has been your favorite color.”

The assassin who had risen from the dead hugged her brother. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” he replied. “Just do one thing. Make sure you save the future.”

* * *

 

_Lily_

                She told her parents she would be going somewhere distant with Linda. It wasn’t a total lie, but Lily didn’t want her parents to worry about her. As for her brother and sister, she felt more comfortable telling them the truth of the mission. Both were metahumans, and Leonard had once time traveled anyways. Lily had a feeling her time travel adventures were going to be vastly different than what he had gone through though.

“Does Linda know you’re going?” Lisa asked after Lily arrived at her lab and told her and Leonard about what she was planning to do. “You need her to be Firestorm.”

Lily nodded. “After Miranda left us, we talked about it. She wanted in and so did I. Plus, it’s time travel.”

“Geek,” Leonard teased.

“Jerk,” Lisa rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Lily. “So you’re really going to do this? Time travel?”

“I am,” Lily nodded. “You two faced Savage before. This time, we’re going to put a permanent end to him.”

“Which I thought we had done the first time,” Leonard grumbled. “But make sure it gets done this time.”

“Relax, we’ve got this,” Lily shrugged. “Even if Cold and Gold are with us. Honestly, the thought of a ruined Central City probably will get them on board to help us.”

“I’m questioning this woman’s leadership if she’d recruited two Rogues,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “But seriously, Lily. Stay safe.”

“I’m going to be fine,” she laughed. “Although I have to take care of some stuff before I leave.”

Lisa rose from her chair and hugged her. “I’ll miss you, sis. Don’t get into too much trouble out there.”

“Why would you think I would?”

Her sister smirked and Lily sighed. “Actually, don’t answer that.”

“We’d be here all day if she did,” Leonard grinned as Lily turned toward him. “A word of advice. Be careful when you’re messing around in the timeline.”

“Noted, big brother,” she nodded.

“But I’ll miss you too, Lil.”

“I’ll miss you too, Len. Both of you,” Lily said. “Don’t you and Sara start having babies until I get back from this.”

Her brother groaned. “Really, Lily?”

Lisa shook her head at them. Lily looked between her siblings. The three of them were not all blood, but they had always been there for each other. Now, she was going to have to lend a hand in saving the future for them and all their friends.

“As soon as I get back, I’ll come and find you two,” she promised before leaving Lisa’s lab.

* * *

 

_Linda_

                She had scared the hell out of Eddie when she had arrived back at their apartment. He hadn’t been expecting her to be back from Keystone City for another two days, and thought she was an intruder. Linda had promised to explain it all to him in the morning before going to bed with him. They’d spend most of that morning together in bed before getting up to start the day.

                As they made breakfast, Linda decided that now was the time to tell Eddie about the events of the previous night. Her husband listened as she explained how she and Lily had been taken and woke up on a rooftop in Central City. She told him about Miranda Coburn and how Vandal Savage was still out there to become dictator of the world. That a group called the Time Masters had shot down Miranda’s plea and how Linda herself was destined to be some kind of legend in the future.

“Lily’s in,” she told him as they both sat down at the table. “And I am too. Not just because of Firestorm though. The future is in danger because of Savage. Miranda showed us projections of Midway, Fawcett, Star, and Central.”

Eddie set down his mug. “What’d they look like?”

“Destroyed,” Linda uttered, the image of crumbling buildings and red skies imprinted in her mind. “It looked like the aftermath of a war. I don’t want to let that happen if I can help prevent it.”

“Then don’t,” Eddie reached over to take her hand. “Don’t let Savage take over the world. Help stop him from becoming a dictator.”

Linda looked back at him. “Eddie…are you sure about me going?”

“You’re a superhero, babe,” he reminded her. “I knew who I was marrying. No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you.”

“I have no idea how long that’s going to be.”

“I don’t care,” Eddie told her. “Although preferably come back before I’m an old geezer.”

“Deal,” she giggled and shook her head. “What did I do to get you, Eddie Thawne?”

“I drank your latte. It was a complete accident, and I took you out to get a new one.”

                Linda grinned at the memory as she dug into her breakfast. She really was lucky to have met Eddie. Their relationship had gotten metahumans and time travel and everything in between thrown at it, but it still stood strong. Love kept them together.

As they cleaned up afterwards, Linda turned and kissed him. “You know, I’ve still got a bit of time left before I have to go time traveling. And I don’t know when I’m going to see you again…”

The smirk steadily creeping across Eddie’s face told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.

* * *

 

_John and Lyla_

                Instead of going back to Midway City, John and Lyla remained in Central City. It had come as a shock to learn their enemy had not been defeated, but set back momentarily. Their lives were still at risk whenever he was resurrected again. For a few months, they thought they had finally won after four thousand years of living and dying over and over. Miranda Coburn had shattered that victory with only a few words.

“So he’s still out there,” Lyla said as they entered a dinner in the morning. “We didn’t actually get rid of Savage.”

“And he’s apparently going to take over the world,” John shuddered as they sat down in one of the booths. “That’s the future for Earth.”

“She showed us a few cities in the future. Who knows how bad the rest of the world will be?”

John nodded as he picked up a menu. “Or how much of it will still be standing.”

                Lyla grimaced. A waitress came over to take their orders for drinks. Both asked for coffees and more time to look over the menus. John watched her go to another table where a family was seated before looking back to Lyla. Only a few hours and he was already suspicious of anyone who wasn’t Lyla.

“What do you think about Coburn’s offer to join her in stopping Savage for good?” he asked. “Do you want to join up with her?”

His soulmate glanced up from her menu. “Do you?”

John nodded. “I’m not even going to hesitate. Whether you decide to go or not, I definitely will be.”

“Johnny-”

“Lyla,” he looked around again to make certain no one was listening to them. “Chay-Ara. Hath-Set has been after us for two hundred and seven lifetimes. Two hundred and six were cut short by him. I love you. I want to live a full life with you. So yes, I’m in to make sure Savage is done for once and for all. Even if you don’t want to come, I will go after him still. I don’t care if I die as long as I take him with me so he never kills you again.”

Lyla raised her eyebrows. “You practice that?”

He shook his head as the waitress brought them their coffees and they placed their orders.

Lyla leaned forward. “I’ve been in since Miranda Coburn told us Savage was still alive. He needs to be stopped. And if you think I’d let you go after Savage alone, you’re crazy. You know you don’t have to protect me. I can handle myself. We take Savage together with Miranda and whoever else joins us.”

John smiled. “Guess we’re time-travelling then.”

* * *

 

_Barry and Iris_

“You’re insane.”

                Iris was baffled. First, they’d lost their loot getting kidnapped by a crazy British lady who wanted her and Barry to join her quest of do-gooders in stopping an evil dictator. As soon as she had left, the two of them had done the same after Barry told the others there that hero wasn’t and never would be on his resume. Now that they were back at their safe house, he was singing a different tune about how they should consider going.

“I’ve been thinking it over,” Barry shrugged. “I’m interested in it now. Think of what we could get out of it.”

“Heroism of saving the future?” Iris snarked. “Who cares? It’s not like either of us will still be alive by then to see it happen.”

“True,” he nodded. “But time travel, Iris. Think of the possibilities for us.”

                Her thoughts went straight to her family. Maybe if she went back, her dad wouldn’t have to die. Her mother and her brother would both have lived instead of dying in the hospital. Hell, Iris could even take out the robbers who’d killed Barry’s parents. But she had a feeling he wasn’t thinking of family though.

“Go on,” she said, flopping back into the old couch.

Barry grinned. “Think of all the lost treasures we could get our hands on. All the things we could steal, past or future.”

“And that’s why you want to go on this quest? To steal?”

“Exactly,” Barry agreed, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

Iris smiled. “You’ll need a partner for those heists, Bar.”

“And I think I’ve got one,” he replied as he sat down beside her. “Iris, if I’m going to steal throughout history, you’re the only person I’d want to do it with.”

She met his eyes, pushing down the warring emotions inside her. They weren’t like that. The two of them could ever be like that.

“Then I’m in,” Iris smirked. “You need someone to watch your back so you don’t get yourself killed.”

Barry clapped his hands and rose from the couch. “Excellent. Think we should let Cisco know of all of this?”

“As far as I know, he’s still in Europe,” Iris reminded him. “Leave him a message about this. We can bring him back a souvenir.”

                Barry grinned. For a moment, Iris saw the kid he’d been before his parents had been killed. The one who rambled on and on about history and science. What would life had been like for him if his parents survived, or if her dad had survived? Would they still be where they were now? Would they still know each other?

                The moment passed and Iris shook her head. She’d seen that life on that other Earth with perfect Iris who had everything. That life would never be an option for her. The life she had here, she was happy with. As soon as the mission ended, she and Barry could ditch the others with their spoils and continue life as if they’d never left.

* * *

 

_Miranda_

“I see you all came,” Miranda said from where she stood in front of the cloaked Waverider as her recruits arrived.

“That we did,” Helena Bertinelli told her, stepping forward. “Although some of us would have appreciated being returned to where we had been when you took us last night.”

Miranda dipped her head in apology.

“Okay, so how are we time traveling?” Barry Allen asked, earning everyone’s eyes on him. “What? No one else was wondering.”

“I’d like to know that too,” Caitlin Snow shrugged.

Miranda smiled “Imagine how difficult it would be for a twenty-second century timeship to blend in with 2017 Central City. Or ancient Troy. Or eighteenth century France? Naturally, a method of disguise is needed.”

She pressed the button on the remote she’d fabricated on the Waverider to uncover it. The faces of the people in front of her were too perfect as they got a look at the Waverider.

“Holographic cloaking,” Linda Park murmured in awe. “Oh, tell me this gets invented while I’m alive.”

Lyla Michaels was shaking her head slowly. “Four thousand years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“It’s called the Waverider,” Miranda told them proudly. “I’ve been in charge of it for over a decade. Wherever and whenever we need to go to stop Savage, this will take use there.”

“So where do we need to go first then?” Iris West inquired, tilting her head to the side.

She could easily tell them about Professor Connor Hawke now and how he was the only known researcher on Vandal Savage, but said information might be better to be revealed onboard the ship.

“Inside first,” Miranda suggested. “It’ll be easier to access what I need to tell you when we’re all on board.”

                Looks were exchanged around the group. Helena was the first to shrug her shoulders and follow after her, the others soon taking after her lead. Once all were inside, the door to the cargo bay closed. A few minutes later, the Waverider came to life and ascended into the sky with most of its occupants preparing for their first time jump.

                Just as the Waverider vanished into the clouds, an individual in futuristic armor and a large gun walked onto the scene. Their masked face tipped up to the sky to see the ship disappear. The person beneath the mask felt all the anger and bitterness hit them all over again. Soon, it would be sated.

Miranda Coburn would not succeed, and Chronos was determined to make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go. The Earth-4 Legends off on their grand adventure.
> 
> For now, this is it for the Earth-4 Legends. There will be two future stories involving them though, and I'm happy to take requests to write scene that might occur during this group's mission. But for the next installment of Earth-4, Killer Frost is coming.
> 
> Reviews=Love


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